


A Meeting in Yugakure

by aerlinniel



Series: Naruto AUs [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Complete, F/M, Fluff, Haruno Sakura-centric, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Romance, Yugakure, Yugakure doesn't demilitarise, childhood crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23808178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerlinniel/pseuds/aerlinniel
Summary: Sakura was only eight years old when she met a boy in Yugakure.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Friendship), Haruno Sakura/Hidan
Series: Naruto AUs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135625
Comments: 51
Kudos: 563





	A Meeting in Yugakure

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Of crushes and dollies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14859057) by [NikkiGrand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiGrand/pseuds/NikkiGrand). 



> Thank you for reading this story. It's been quite a while time since I last tackled anything within this fandom, so I hope it came out alright. As it stands, I'd consider this story to be fully complete. If there is a particular interest in seeing a continuation, I am happy to either attempt one or give a shot to another story featuring the same pairing.
> 
> My thanks to NikkiGrand, whose story is responsible for getting me interested in the fandom again and in writing something featuring a young Sakura with another young Akatsuki member.

Though she knew the forests surrounding Konohagakure to be beautiful, Sakura had to admit that the Land of Hot Water was nothing short of stunning too. White, chalky cliffs encased the different roads and paths crisscrossing the countryside. Forests almost as thick as those surrounding her native village crowned their mountainous tops, leaving little space for wide clearings of grass. A river with the darkest shade of blue Sakura had ever seen flowed beneath the sharp, rough edges of the cliffs. The colour of the rough waters hadn’t lost its novelty even after all the days she and her family had travelled alongside it, through one of the many roads leading to Yugakure.

Nearly three days had passed since they had departed Konoha for Yugakure. It wasn’t the first time her parents had travelled to the neighbouring hidden village, not with how frequently they went to and from foreign lands, though this was the first time she had been allowed to accompany them.

It was nearly midday by the time they reached the top of the chalk-white mountain cliff on which Yugakure stood.

Walking beneath the wooden torii gateway which marked the hidden village’s single entrance, Sakura couldn’t help but feel amazed. Yugakure was quite beautiful, even if it was smaller than Konoha. A number of colourful banners hung from the sides of its ornate wooden buildings, each advertising different hot springs. Between them, wedged in what should have been streets and alleyways, laid a number of restaurants; each open and full despite the early time of the day.

It didn’t take long for Sakura’s mother to call for her. “Don’t fall behind, Sakura,” Mebuki said. “We to arrive to the central square in time. Our business partners will be waiting for us.”

They were received by a group of people who could only be her parent’s long-term business partners as soon as they reached the square. A series of greetings followed, with neither party going beyond mere formality, and soon Sakura and her family were being directed towards a large traditional house close to the centre of the hidden village. A dark-haired boy close to her own age—the son of her parent’s business partners—greeted them at the door. Bowing slightly, he led them to a formal tearoom whilst a servant took care of their luggage.

The woman who had greeted them smiled at her as they sat down. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Sakura. Your parents have told me so much about you,” she cooed. “How have you found the village so far?”

“It’s really pretty,” Sakura said, feeling excited. Despite her nerves, the smile that grew on her lips was entirely genuine. “I had never seen cliffs as white before.”

“This is the first time our Sakura joins us on one of our trips,” her father said kindly. “It’s no wonder that she took to the landscape surrounding Yugakure—it is a real treasure.”

“That it is,” the woman’s husband said with a laugh. “Hopefully it will only be a matter of time before more people are aware of it. I’m sure you heard the rumours about the demilitarisation plans?”

Sakura’s mother leant forwards and nodded. “It was all our trading partners in Sunagakure could talk about,” Mebuki said slowly, “I wasn’t aware they had gone through.”

“Oh, we weren’t so lucky in the end,” the man said, shaking his head. “We still hold out hope, though.”

“That is indeed a shame,” Sakura heard her father say. He sounded earnest, but she didn’t think he was being genuine.

Her mother spoke before the other couple could add a single word. “Perhaps we could continue our discussion whilst our Sakura refreshes herself?” Mebuki said, eyes darting towards her. “I am afraid that these topics may bore her, and—.”

The older man understood immediately. “Of course,” he said. He turned towards the boy that had greeted them at the door and smiled. “Daisuke, why don’t you show Sakura around?”

The boy bowed. “Of course, father.”

Sakura felt her father’s warm hand on her shoulder, and she leant closer to him. “We will likely be taking some time to discuss the details of… you know,” Kizashi said in a low tone of voice. “It’ll likely be some time before we travel here again, so do take the chance to explore Yugakure if you want, Sakura.”

Sakura stood up, careful not to ruffle the dress her mother had insisted she wear, and smiled. “Thank you!”

Her mother nodded. “Just make sure not to be too late, alright?”

Sakura flounced into an empty park. Kicking a stone in a burst of anger, she marched to an empty bench and gracelessly sat herself down. Clenching her fists, she pursed her lips and tried to fight the impulse pushing her to rush back to the boy who had walked with her through Yugakure and hit him.

 _How dare he?_ she thought, still feeling bewildered by the situation which had developed over the last hour.

It hadn’t taken long for the impromptu tour to turn sour. Though Daisuke had seemed nice enough at first, particularly when showing her the hidden village’s many different hot springs, his attitude had changed dramatically the second Sakura had mentioned she was studying at Konoha’s Academy. Her goal of becoming a Genin had amounted to nothing short of a crime in the other boy’s eyes, as had her defence of shinobi in opposition to what apparently had been the most recent attempt to demilitarise the village.

Her mother wasn’t going to be happy—not given how they had fought. They had even ended up parting ways after arguing by the same torii gateway she and her family had entered Yugakure through.

Sakura kicked the ground, causing dust to rise up into a small plume, and balled her fists tighter. She had never been this angry before, not even with Naruto. Even he, whatever else may be said about him, listen to others from time to time. 

Taking in a deep breath, she brushed dust off the folds of her white dress and leant against bench’s backrest. It was still too early to return—her parents were sure to still be discussing business—and, no matter how the failed tour had gone, she still wanted to see Yugakure.

Sakura looked up at the clear sky. Just what could she do? Playing in the park was not really an option, not when Ino wasn’t around. She could continue to walk around Yugakure in hopes of seeing the rest of it, but she’d have no idea about where exactly to go. Worse, visiting it alone wouldn’t really be fun.

She was in the middle of trying to recollect the different interesting-looking areas of the hidden village when a pair of footsteps approached her. Looking back down, Sakura met the eyes of an angry-looking boy who seemed to be muttering under his breath.

It didn’t take him long to speak. “What are you doing here?” he asked harshly.

Sakura flattened her lips. It was clear that it was anything but a question, even if the strange boy had intoned it as one. “I’m sitting here,” she said quietly, feeling frustrated. Just what did he want?

The boy’s mouth twisted into a scowl that made him seem sour-faced. “Well, out of here,” he said brusquely. “This is where I train.”

“This is hardly the only empty space around. Can’t you go somewhere else?” Sakura said indignantly. “I got here first.”

The boy huffed. “I don’t think you understand,” he spat. Narrowing his eyes, he took a step forwards and gestured around them. “ _I_ train here. You’re in the way.”

A flash of anger ran through Sakura, and she turned to face the intruder of what she had assumed to be a quiet place. He was paler than anyone she could remember. His hair, an odd grey-white shade she had never seen before, was almost completely slicked back; and his eyes, a distinctive shade of near-purple, were framed by thick eyelashes.

Had his expression not been as distorted as it was by a scowl, she’d have thought him pretty.

Unbidden, her eyes were drawn to the hitai-ate tied to the boy’s neck. “You’re a shinobi?” she asked, momentarily forgetting what she had wanted to say. He had to be, even if he seemed to just be slightly older than she was. His clothes were odd, too. No civilian would wear mesh armour under a plain white haori—or a pendant like that. “Are you a Genin?”

“Are you blind or just stupid? Of course I am. Why else would I have this?” the boy corrected, sounding contemptuous. “Besides, I’m a Chunin, not a Genin. Which is why you’re in my way.” For a second it seemed like he would step forwards and try to force her off the bench. Instead, the boy looked at her pointedly. “Who are you, anyways? I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. Yugakure civilians know not to come around here.”

“I’m not a civilian! I’m training to be a Genin at the Academy,” Sakura protested. “Besides, I was just asking! I had never seen a shinobi from outside Konoha before, and—.”

The boy scoffed. “You?” he asked, interrupting her. He looked down at Sakura’s white dress. “You don’t look like one.”

Sakura crossed her arms. Why was he so rude? “It’s important for a lady to always look her best,” she said, repeating the words her mother had told her that very morning. “You can’t just ignore how you look.”

“You barely look like a shinobi at all. What can you even do?”

“I have the best grades in my class!” Sakura spluttered. “Why do you even care?”

“As if that means anything,” the boy said, mouth twisting up at its edges. A moment of silence went by, and before Sakura could so much as guess what he was thinking he had sat down on the other end of the bench. “What are you even doing here?” he demanded, glaring at her. “A Konoha Academy student like you shouldn’t be in Yugakure.”

“My parents are doing business here,” Sakura explained succinctly. Her mood lifted at the thought. “This is my first visit here.”

They boy didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to his side and withdrew a scroll of some sort from a pouch. Sakura leant forwards, observing him curiously as he activated the seal and released what seemed to be a scythe.

“Wow,” she said reverently, looking at the seemingly odd weapon. Its blade was longer than the sword she had seen a Chunin carry once. Its handle wasn’t smooth, either; instead, if the grooves were anything to go by, it seemed to be divided into three separate sections. “Can you really use that?”

The boy’s head whipped around, and his hands tightened around the weapon’s handle. “What a stupid question. Of course I can!”

“I had never seen a weapon like it before.” She hadn’t. Though the teachers at the academy had taught them about the basics of weapons handling, the most they had gotten to practice with were kunai. “What are those grooves for?”

The grey-haired boy’s head tilted to a side. “Mobility,” he said, visibly seeming to preen at the attention. “This scythe is still a bit new, but I’ve been training with it for a while now. It’s better than anything you’ll see out there.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. Before she knew it, she had spoken again. “Could you teach me?”

His eyes darted to her own. “Teach you?” he said, as if tasting the words. His brows furrowed, and his mouth twisted into a sneer. “Teach you what?” he snapped. “Why should I teach you anything?”

“We’ve only been shown how to use kunai before, but nothing quite like that,” Sakura said, eying the scythe briefly before looking at him again. “How old are you?”

The boy’s frown deepened. Narrowing his eyes, he leant forwards. “You’re just a foreigner. It’s not my problem if your teachers are incompetent enough to not be able to teach you basic bukijutsu.”

Sakura leant back, smiling even as she bristled at the boy’s comment. He had to be good if he was a Chunin.

The grey-haired boy’s cheeks reddened when she said as much.

“That doesn’t mean anything!” he exclaimed, standing up abruptly. He spluttered something incoherently and rubbed the back of his neck. “I doubt someone like you could even manage to handle anything beyond a kunai, anyways!”

“Why not?” Sakura asked honestly.

The boy’s eyes widened, and Sakura found herself briefly drawn to their strange near-purple colour. “Why not?” he repeated indignantly. “Why the hell would I even want to? You’re just a foreign civilian! I—.”

The boy gestured widely. Muttering something under his breath, he kicked the ground in a similar way to how Sakura herself had done so upon entering the empty park.

Sakura smiled. “I’m Sakura. What’s your name?”

Three days later, within the same park, Sakura found herself blinking at the sickle Hidan—the boy’s name, as she had discovered—offered her. Though he had taken her request to heart surprisingly quickly, she hadn’t quite expected the rude and crass boy to gift her anything before leaving Yugakure.

Hidan met her eyes only briefly before looking away, sour-faced, and pressing his lips into a thin line. “It’s so you can continue training,” he said haughtily. “You’re dreadful, you really need it.”

Sakura smiled. It was the very same sickle he had allowed her to use throughout the myriad of training sessions they had had whilst her parents conducted business. “Thank you!” she said, feeling excited. “I’ll make sure to do so—every day. I promise!”

“You better. This is a good sickle, you know?” Hidan said, attempting to sound impassive even as the corners of his mouth twitched up. “I’m being more than generous.”

Her smile widened and Hidan, seeming to take offence at her lack of a negative reaction, quickly continued talking. Soon, Sakura found herself nodding along what she had come to recognise as a habitual rant on combat from the grey-haired boy.

It was strange to think about just how much she had learnt about him over the last days; or how, regardless of what he said, they had managed to become good friends.

Hidan, who would soon be turning eleven years old, had been an orphan ever since his parents had been killed in a mission. He was as talkative as Naruto, and often managed to be even more irritating. Worse; he was loud, crude, direct to the point of being abrasive, and liked fighting far too much.

It didn’t take too long to hear his thoughts on just about anything, either. The family Sakura’s parents kept in contact with, which he seemed to hate along with anything that had to do with the merchant families of Yugakure, had been a particularly unfortunate topic. She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t understand, though. Not if what he had said about the Daimyo’s intentions for Yugakure was true.

Hidan also was, as it had turned out, religious. Though Sakura couldn’t say she understood what he meant when he had introduced his particular set of beliefs, the passion with which he had spoken about them was a different story. No one she knew in Konoha followed much of anything—at least no one she knew personally—and the confidence with which he spoke was, to a degree, refreshing. Even if it involved having him talk about suffering and death a bit too much.

The series of weapons training sessions he had put her through had been strange at first too, but she couldn’t deny just how engaged it had made made her with the idea of becoming proficient with a weapon. His confidence, bordering nearly on arrogance, accidentally giving her a sense of determination she didn’t know she possessed.

Sakura smiled at the thought. Hidan was abrasive, irritating, and far too crude for her liking, but he also had a particular way of being honest and dedicated.

It had only been three days, but she was going to miss him.

“Are you even paying attention?” Hidan hissed. “I’m doing you a favour.”

“I know,” she conceded. “I don’t think I’d have gotten to learn this without you.”

“Just—.” Hidan paused, eyes softening slightly. “Don’t let this go to waste.”

Sakura took the sickle and put it away in her bag. Looking back at the grey-haired boy, she gave him a watery smile. His eyes weren’t quite as bright anymore. “I’ll miss you,” she said softly.

Not giving Hidan a chance to reply, she took a step forwards and pulled him into a tight hug. Hidan gasped, freezing in place before returning it stiffly. Sakura smiled. He was warm, and the mesh armour he wore underneath the white haori wasn’t unpleasant to feel.

She pulled apart. “Thank you.” Her lower lip trembled. “I’ll make sure to train. You won’t be disappointed.”

Hidan looked away bashfully, smile slowly growing on his lips. Nodding awkwardly, he remained silent for a few seconds before starting to talk again.

* * *

Seven days after arriving at the Land of Waves, a group of foreign ninja approached them whilst Kakashi introduced them to tree climbing.

Sakura, who had been focusing on keeping the chakra on her feet at the constant level required to keep walking up the tree, looked down at Naruto’s loud shout of surprise. Grasping the sickle at her side, she began to walk down the tree trunk. She couldn’t quite hear what the three shinobi were saying from her vantage point, but Kakashi was injured. If anything was to happen, she had to be with her team.

She was nearly at bottom of the tree when the sight of grey-white hair and a Yugakure hitai-ate made her falter. It had to be him, there was no question about it.

Sakura jumped onto the forest floor and walked towards Kakashi and her teammates, eyes fixed on the teen standing by the two Jonin talking to her teacher. “Hidan?” she asked.

Near-purple eyes beset by a scowl darted to meet hers, and Sakura couldn’t help but let out an excited cry. She could have recognised him anywhere. “You’ve changed so much!” she exclaimed.

He really had, even if he still looked remarkably like how she remembered. He was far taller than he had been. His shoulders had broadened, and his jaw sharpened. A large, three-bladed scythe hung from his back, and Sakura briefly wondered whether he had advanced in rank.

The grey-haired teen’s eyes widened. He turned to face her fully, seeming to almost take a step back. “Sakura?”

“How have you been?” she asked cheerily, only barely aware of the way the two other Yugakure shinobi fell silent through her excitement. “It’s been so long, you look great!”

Hidan’s eyes visibly softened. Rubbing his chin, he glanced down at the sickle in her hand. Sakura caught the beginnings of a smirk on the corners of his mouth. “You trained.”

She beamed. “Of course, every day!”

Her friend’s smirk grew. Tilting his head, he gestured at her weapon. “And how good are you now?”

Sakura felt herself blush slightly as she met Hidan’s eyes. The sickle she used was the same one he had given her all those years ago. Smiling widely, she was about to fill her friend in on everything when she felt one of her teacher’s hands on her shoulder.

“Sakura,” Kakashi said, single visible eye fixed on Hidan. “Why don’t you introduce us to your friend?”

Sakura stuttered. “Yes!” When had Kakashi pocketed his book?

Forcing herself to smile brightly, she walked up to Hidan and grabbed his hand. “This is Hidan _,_ ” she said. “He’s an old friend. We met when I was in the Academy, in a visit to Yugakure.”

The two Yugakure shinobi remained silent. Kakashi narrowed his eye, noticeably unhappy. Besides him, judging by their expressions, it was clear that Naruto and Sasuke felt the same way, though only her teacher seemed to be on edge.

It was one of the other two Yugakure shinobi that broke the silence. “Hatake,” the one wearing a vest said. “We know what your mission here entails. Can we count on your collaboration in dealing with the Gato Company?”

Kakashi’s eye darted to the two men before nodding imperceptibly. Naruto visibly perked up as Sasuke attempted to hide his interest, annoyance seemingly forgotten. Sakura, not quite following exactly what was going on, looked up at Hidan.

The grey-haired teen rolled his shoulders. His smirk, as taunting as she could remember, widened as their eyes met. “You’ll just have to show me soon.”

Sakura nodded energetically and smiled, choosing to ignore both the slight heat she could still feel on her cheeks and Kakashi’s concerned glance.

She had missed her friend.


End file.
